Tag: jeff noel

World Class in Lane 8?

Can you become world class even if you’re stuck out in lane 8?

What do you think?

I think you can.

So every day, I wake up, and wonder, what would it take for an ordinary person to become extraordinary?

The way Rosa Parks dd.

The way Abraham Lincoln did.

The way Walt Disney did.

I’m acutely aware of how impossible can become possible, and more than that, how impossible can become “business as usual”.

I often say, “The road to excellence has no finish line”.

Well, there is a finish line in Track & Field.

I hope to make it in about 55 seconds.

Lane 8. Men’s 400 meters.  The 50-54 age group.  Finland.  August 2009.  The World Championships.

And, one other important point.  Lane 8, in the finals.

Ya with me?

Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Lane 8 Blog from Hartford, CT

Lane 8 Blog from Hartford, CT.

I’m co-facilitating a two-day professional development program, for a regional financial services company, here in Hartford.

Life on the road can be very hard work, at least that’s what I’ve found to be true.

After standing all day teaching, my feet were sore and my body was spent from the “emotional labor” expended to do an excellent job in the classroom.

I took the day off from training, took 800 mg of Advil, iced my left foot, and then fell asleep early.

Sometimes the journey to become world class isn’t what you might think it is.

And yet, the journey continues.  

As with any noble goal, we can’t give up.

Carpe diem, jeff noel  🙂

Masters Track and Lane 8?

Yesterday, I had such a busy morning, I couldn’t find time to run, before taking our son to school on the way to the airport.

After my arrival at Hartford, Connecticut, I had the chance to do an easy 35 minute run.

Some left heel pain right away, so I jogged backwards for a couple minutes and that helped.  It usually does.  Not much pain while running.  Afterwards, during the evening, my foot was sore.

And so it goes.

Hope this doesn’t sound like complaining, because complaining is the opposite of my intent.

It’s meant to be a reality check, to the difficulties in this microcosm of life.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  Primarily because I need to purchase the plane ticket soon.

Using the creative approaches to challenges, I quickly thought of a “PLAN B”.

Enter the 1,500 meters.

Once I’m warmed up, I can run a very decent mile pace.  Which is why the 1,500 would be a good back up.

It is still unknown if I can get up on my toes, and shift into overdrive for some serious acceleration (for a 50-year old).  🙂

I emailed, and then spoke to, the USATF representative and had the 1,500 added to my 2009 Master’s World Championships profile.

I’ve run a near All-American standard of excellence time, and by August, should be an unlikely long shot to do well for Team USA.

It’s amazing the confidence and reassurance one can gain with a Plan B.

Plan B or not, hope you have a GREAT and Healthy day.  Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Blah, blah, blah?

Blah, blah, blah?

Nope.

Dream Big.  Get There.  Stay There.

That’s what Lane 8 is about.   Staying there.

Ran into a Father of my son’s classmate, at the gym yesterday.

I asked, “What motivates you”?

He replied, with an apparent wisdom, that he has found it more difficult, now that he’s almost 30, to stay in shape and keep his weight ideal.

Please forgive me for thinking this, but all I could think of was, “You really think that you’re going to stay fit and at an ideal weight for the rest of your life”?

“Dude”, I wanted to say, “You have no idea what is ahead of you, but I can predict one thing for sure.  If you think it’s hard now, imagine it 10 years from now, or 20 years from now when you’re almost 50”.

How do I know?

Because I turn 50 in three weeks.  I’ve got 20 years of “wisdom and mistakes” on him.  That’s how I know.

Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from making mistakes.

I should be the wisest man on Earth, eh?  Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Slowest of the Fastest?

What does this metaphor, “The slowest of the Fastest” mean?

It means very simply this:

We have a choice every moment of every day.

To be positive, or, to not be positive.

Here’s one of life’s invisible truths:  Everybody is fighting a hard battle.  Everyone.  Even the people who appear, on the surface, to have a great (easy) life.

We all have a choice on how we live our lives.

There are two choices:

  1. To be the fastest of the slowest.
  2. To be the slowest of the fastest.

On our deathbed, if we are lucky (blessed) to have this moment, we can look back on our lives and say with a peaceful joy, “I gave it my best effort and have no regrets about what I could have, should have or would have done“.

Visit, or revisit, if you’re interested, the post that explains another metaphor, Lane 8 .

Carpe diem, because if you don’t, who will.  If not today, when?  jeff 🙂